


Lost Without You

by adventuresinknowledge



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 12:26:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17059745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adventuresinknowledge/pseuds/adventuresinknowledge
Summary: Miraculous Secret Santa gift for 2018





	Lost Without You

It all happened so fast. One afternoon, she was enjoying a nice lunch break with her classmates and the next moment the school was being attacked. Volpina stood on the roof, sneering down at everyone, but something didn’t feel right. Her eyes were glowing blue and behind her was a large nine-tailed fox, with the same shining eyes. However, it didn’t seem like one of her normal illusions. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It is time to pay for your sins.” With a quick flick of her hand, the nine-tailed fox jumped down and shot a fireball at the girl. Everyone screamed and Marinette felt someone push her out of the way. Blue eyes fluttered open to find a familiar head of golden hair.

“Are you alright?” Adrien’s green gaze snapped to her and she nodded. 

“We have to get everyone out now!”

“Agreed.” The boy jumped to his feet and helped her up. 

“She’s after me. I’ll distract her. Alya! Nino!” she shouted to her friends across the way.  “Get everyone out of the building!” Before anyone could protest, the bluenette raced toward the stairs, dodging another fireball with a strange grace that she didn’t usually possess.  Halfway up the stairs, the entire metal structure shook, throwing her to the side as the fox lunged at her. Its jaws snapped shut inches from her face and she clung to the railing, desperately trying to regain her footing. A large paw came swiping down at her, stopped only by the animal’s yelp of pain as it was dragged backwards. Alix and Kim let go of the tail, high-fiving in triumph before realizing the fox was turning on them. This gave Marinette enough time to race up to a classroom, skidding to a halt and leaning back against the door as it closed. “Tikki, spots on!” she exclaimed, not even giving herself enough time to catch her breath. The kwami spun into her earrings and in a flash of pink, Ladybug stood ready. Her yo-yo whizzed out the window, wrapping around a chimney. The magic weapon propelled her forward. She bent her body, using the propulsion to swing up onto the rooftop opposite Volpina.

In the courtyard below, it was chaos. Screams echoed off the walls, bodies scrambling to get through any exit they could find. Volpina laughed and created more illusions to increase the panic. Most of the students had managed to escape, but everyone in her class remained trapped by the fox. “Lila!” Ladybug called across the way. “Let them go! They aren’t your target!” 

The villain only chuckled. “That may be true, but they’re Marinette’s friends and she won’t be able to resist coming to save them.”

Ladybug gritted her teeth and began to twirl her yo-yo. “I’ll give you one last chance, Lila! Surrender now. We’ve been through this three times now. You know how it ends.”

“This time it’s different,” Volpina snarled. “I’m more powerful than you could even imagine, Ladybug. You won’t be able to stop me that easily this time!” The spotted hero charged, throwing her yo-yo and launching herself toward the akuma with the plan to attack.  However, halfway there, something large and solid slammed into her, throwing the girl across the open area. She and the large nine-tailed fox rolled across the shingles before the creature jumped to its feet, snarling at the hero as the one circling the students disappeared.

“I can make illusions remember?” Lila landed next to the fox, sneering. “Sic her, boy.” She patted the fox twice before it launched himself at Ladybug. The girl jumped backward, barely avoiding the teeth. It lunged again and she swiped the jaws away with her yo-yo but its tail came down, smacking her backward off the roof. She flipped, landing in the courtyard. The students had just started making their way toward the exit when they were once again blocked by the large fox.  _ They were too close! They might get hurt.  _ She had to lead the fox away from them. 

Ladybug quickly ran up the stairs, bouncing off one of the support beam so she could get back on the roof. She continued to dodge to fox’s attacks, trying to find some sort of weak spot. It slashed at her with his claws. The attacks kept getting closer and closer to hitting. It reared back to swipe once again and Ladybug readied herself for the attack but instead it swung around and smacked her with its tails again. She was thrown back, this time onto the roof. It pounced and smacked her with its paw, sending her flying once more. Each time she tried to stand it would lay yet another blow. 

There was a whistle and the fox scooped her up in its teeth, bounding back over to Volpina and deposited her at the villainess’s feet. “The mighty Ladybug, reduced to a chew toy,” she laughed. “How pathetic.”

Ladybug tried to move but her whole body hurt and her head was spinning. She felt a hand on one of the earrings and her eyes went wide. The metal slipped from her ear and instantly the transformation began to fade. Volpina raised an eyebrow and began to laugh again.  “Well well, let’s see who is behind the mask, shall we?” Her hand reached out again to take the other earring, but Ladybug swung her legs around, catching Lila in the back of the knees before she swiped at the hand, trying to retrieve her earring. Volpina instead slammed the flute down onto the top of her head. Without the full power of the miraculous to help protect her, as well as the beating she had just received, the blow sent stars dancing in front of Marinette’s eyes. Another gloved hand reached for her ear but the hero backed away, smacking the intruding limb from her face.

Her vision was still swimming and blackness was creeping in from the sides. One last step backwards and her heel hit nothing. A soft gasp escaped the girl as she began to fall, hands reaching for the edge of the roof—but there was nothing. It all happened in slow motion. Her arms flailed in front of her as she watched the outfit slowly disappear. The railing of the second floor raced past her vision and she knew that soon she would hit the ground. Unconsciousness was already starting to take her as she closed her eyes to prepare for the impact. 

When it finally came, it was much softer than she expected and accompanied by a grunt.  Her eyes slowly opened and a blur of gold and green came into view before her eyes focused. “Adrien…” The girl furrowed her brow.  “What…how….”

“Shh, shh….” He seemed more in shock than anything else. More people started to gather around and murmurs spread through the crowd. The hero held up a hand and watched as the last of her costume, fizzled away. A tiny exhausted Tikki appeared and landed on her stomach. The girl reached out the cradle the kwami.

“I’m sorry…” she breathed before closing her eyes again. Her head was still ringing from the hit Volpina landed.

“M-Marinette! Wha—no! No, that can’t be right!” Alya stared down at her best friend.  How could Marinette be Ladybug? And how had she not put the clues together? She always disappeared during akuma attacks, they had the same hair, the same eyes, the same voice.  Alya began to shake, wrapping her arms around herself. Nino pulled her close, staring at their friend with silent awe.

“We need to get out her here. Half of us should leave through the front and half through the back. It’s the only way out that’s not obvious.” Adrien stood, holding Marinette protectively in his arms. “That way she will be forced to pick one group to follow. Nino, Alya, you head with the first group out the front. I’ll go out the back. Nino, grab a blanket and hold Juleka in your arms wrapped in a blanket so it looks like you might be holding Marinette.”

“What?! Hold on a second, Agreste,” Alya protested, shaking Nino off and pushing down her growing panic attack. “I’m going with my best friend!”

“I know, and that’s what she’ll be expecting.  I’ll text you as soon as we find a safe spot then we can all meet up there,” the boy insisted. “We have to go now!” With some reluctance, the reporter finally gave in.

The plan worked perfectly. Volpina went after Nino and Alya’s group, leaving the rest to slip out the back unseen. They ran through the streets and managed to find an abandoned warehouse to hide out in. Marinette was gently set down on the ground, Nathaniel removing his sweatshirt and folding it into a pillow to support her head.

“You guys saw Lila’s eyes right?” Alix muttered as she stared at her classmate, still trying to process the fact that she was the hero of Paris.

“Yeah, they were...different… glowy,” Ivan muttered. 

“I mean akuma’s eyes have glowed before but not like that….” Alix removed her hat, running her fingers through her hair.

Adrien listened silently to the conversation. He agreed with everything they were saying.  Something was different this time. Lila had become Volpina twice and it had never been like this.  And what was that fox? It wasn’t just an illusion or it wouldn’t have been able to tackle Ladybug… or Marinette…. He held the unconscious girl’s hand, grip a little tighter than it should be.  Marinette was Ladybug. She was right in front of him all along. How could he have been so blind? All the clues were there now that he knew. “I’m sorry…” he whispered. “You were right about Lila. I should have listened to you. We should have stopped her sooner. I’m sorry, milady.”

After an hour, a few of the people from the other group began to join them including Alya and Nino. “Where are the others?” Alix demanded, glancing around. “Why aren’t they with you?”

“They all decided to stay out there and keep Volpina at bay until—” Nino’s gaze moved to where Adrien was still sitting beside Marinette. “Has she woken up yet?”

“No,” Alix answered. “Well, screw this.” She pulled her hat down a little tighter. “I’m going out there to help them.” She ran out the front door. Alya was by Marinette’s side almost immediately.

“Is she okay? What’s going on?” Alya demanded. 

“There’s been no change,”  Adrien reported quietly. “She passed out a few minutes after we split up and she’s been unconscious since.” His gaze didn’t waver from his partner’s face.

“I’m an idiot. An idiot! How could I not have figured it out?” Alya gripped Marinette’s other hand and quickly wiped away tears. “She was right in front of me all along. My best friend. Of course, she is Ladybug. There is no one else who could do it better. I should have seen it sooner.”

A soft sigh escaped from Adrien’s lips. That’s what he had been berating himself with since they had gotten here. Nino walked over and put his hands on his girlfriend’s shoulders as she began to cry.  

“What do we do now? Volpina has the other earring and no one has seen Chat Noir,” he muttered, glancing at Adrien. “And we can’t just leave Marinette here.”

“I don’t know….” He was Chat Noir so that would solve one of the problems, but… he was nothing without his lady. She was the main hero. He was just a sidekick. He couldn’t fix the city, couldn’t purify the akuma. How was he going to do this without her?

A weak cough pulled him from his thoughts and he gasped as Marinette began to move, letting out a whimper as one hand pulled from Alya’s grip to rub her head. Those brilliant blue eyes that he loved fluttered open and studied the room for a moment before finally landing on her friends. “What happened? Where am I?” she asked, voice quiet to keep her head from hurting more. Alya let out a strangled sound before she wrapped her arms around Marinette, falling on her to hug the girl.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re awake. I was so worried,” Alya exclaimed. “You were falling and then you wouldn’t wake up. I was so worried.” Marinette grunted at the sudden impact but slowly rubbed her friend’s back.

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” she promised. “Where’s Lila? What happened to the others?”

“Lila is still looking for you. We split up to get you out safely and some of the others decided to stay behind and distract her,” Nino explained.

“I see….” Marinette looked down at the small bump in her pocket that was an unconscious Tikki. “She needs to be stopped. We have to go.” She began to sit up and grunted, grabbing her head.

“Hey take it easy,” Nino said. “You don’t have your Miraculous anymore. You can’t just go charging in there.”

The girl sat there, swaying in place. “My...miraculous?” Her brow furrowed. Her head was pounding too hard and she was losing her train of thought.

“Umm yeah….” Nino glanced at the others as confusion filled his gaze. “Volpina took one of your earrings.”

Marinette blinked and reached up, touching one ear.  _ No there is an earring in that one. _ Her hand moved to other side. Nothing. Her eyes went wide.  _ Oh! Right! _ Volpina took her earring when they were fighting. Now she couldn’t transform. The best thing to do would be to get the other miraculous from Master Fu. “You’re right. Then we have to get somewhere important.” She began to push herself to her feet. “We have to go.”

“You can’t go out there!” Alya protested. “One, you don’t have a miraculous. Two, Lila is looking for you. Three, you’re still hurting.”

“Well, I can’t just sit here and let Chat try and deal with her on his own!”

“Um… Chat Noir hasn’t shown up yet…” Nino mumbled, furrowing his brow.

“What?” The look of worry and fear in her eyes made Adrien’s heart leap in his chest.  She cared about him so much, even if she only thought of them as friends. “Well, where is he? We have to find him!” Her voice grew louder and she grunted, grabbing her head. Talking loud did not help the throbbing.

“Marinette, take deep breaths.” Adrien finally spoke, putting his hand on her shoulder. “First, we need to take care of you and how we are going to get you out of here without Lila finding you.”

A scoff sounded from the corner. “You’re all idiots.” Chloe marched forward and put her hands on her hips. “Obviously, she needs a makeover.”

“Chloe, I really don’t think that’s the solution at the moment,” Adrien sighed, keeping his tone gentle with her as he always did.

“Hush Adrien. You don’t understand the powers of a makeover.” She waved him off then snapped her fingers. Sabrina came forward with Chloe’s bag. “Bring her this way. I’ll fix her.” The class brat walked into a separate room. The friends took a moment to look at each other before reluctantly following. None of them had any ideas so they might as well try this first.

The boys were promptly kicked out and both of them did their best not to pout about it.  Nino leaned against a column arms crossed while Adrien paced back and forth. “Why is it taking so long?!” The model suddenly demanded.

“Dude you’ve got to relax or you’re going to start making a path in the floor,” Nino walked forward, putting a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “Alya’s in there. She will make sure they don’t do anything bad to Mari—”

“And she is now fabulous,” Chloe exclaimed as she walked out of the door, the usual smirk adorning her face. Alya came out supporting Marinette and both of the boys dropped their jaws in surprise.

Marinette’s usual pink theme was gone, replaced with the brilliant yellow Chloe usually wore. She wore a sundress with a small black cardigan. Bubblegum pink lipstick and gaudy blue eyeshadow had been applied to her face while her hair now hung curled around her shoulders.

“You look….” Adrien tried to think of something positive to say but nothing came out.

“...like a giant sunflower,” Nino finished only to be smacked in the arm by Chloe. “Hey!” he exclaimed and the girl glared at him.

“This will definitely work though.  She looks nothing like herself.” Alya commented.

“Why do you have an extra outfit with you?” Nino suddenly blurted out. 

“Because I’m not going to look like an idiot if something happens to this outfit. It’s called being prepared.” Chloe rolled her eyes, crossing her arms st the same time. 

“This will work just fine. Nino, Chloe, and Alya, I need you all to come with me,” Marinette stated. “Adrien, I’m sorry but I can’t bring you. It’s nothing personal.”

“Don’t worry, Marinette. It’s fine. I’ll go help the others keep Lila distracted.” He flashed her his model smile. It was easy to figure out what she was doing. It was time to bring out the other miraculous heroes. “You guys stay safe.” He looked around the ground, gaze lingering on Marinette a little longer than usual before he ran out again.

\--------

The trip was a long and tense one.  Each explosion made all of them jump.  When they made it onto the correct street, Marinette had them move into an alleyway.  “I need you all to stay here,” she said and immediately held a finger up to silence Alya before her friend could protest. But the action made her lose her train of thought again. She furrowed her brow.  _ Okay, where was I…? _  They had come this far. She needed to talk to Master Fu and…  _ Oh right! _ “I cannot reveal the location of the master to any of you. It’s bad enough I lost my miraculous but if any of you got caught and had this information it would be devastating in the hands of Hawkmoth.”

It finally dawned on the others what was happening. Marinette took a deep breath and leaned against the wall before starting to make her way toward Master Fu’s apartment. As she climbed the last step, the door opened. “Marinette. Come inside quickly.” The small man did his best to help her but he was very old and she didn’t want to accidentally hurt him in the process.

Once she was settled inside, he brought her a cup of tea. “This smells awful,” she grumbled but drank it anyway, knowing it would help. “I assume you know why I’m here?” 

“Yes.”

A simple answer, but it cut worse than if he had lectured her. “I’m sorry. I was irresponsible. I should have been paying better attention. I—”

“Marinette, you had no way of knowing the power someone under the influence of both the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous could possess.”

“But I lost one of the earrings! And now everyone in my class knows my identity. I failed as a hero.” Finally, it all started to sink in and she buried her face in her hands and a small sob shook her body. Master Fu’s hand came to rest on her shoulder.

“No, you did not. You did not lose both of the earrings and you made it all the way here,” the old man pointed out. “You showed strength and courage today. Those are what make you a good hero. Now,” he said as he moved over to the phonograph, pressing the correct buttons and revealing the miraculous, “I assume you have come to retrieve the fox, turtle, and bee miraculous to assist Chat Noir?” The girl slowly nodded and straightened.  Master Fu was right. Now was not the time to cry and feel pitiful for herself. She had to correct her mistake first. The three boxes were placed in her hand and the master wished her luck. Marinette returned to her friends and Chloe, handing out the miraculous and requesting to be taken with them. Nino carried her across the buildings as they ran, setting her in a safe place before they went to fight Volpina. 

\---------

The fight was long and grueling. Volpina seemed invincible this time and with her nine-tailed fox, it was hard to even get close. It was like she was able to predict their every move. Rena Rouge and Queen Bee kept her distracted by flying around her, creating illusions and using clouds of bees to attack her. This gave Carapace and Chat Noir time to come up with a plan. The first thing they needed to do was get the earring back.

“We need to get her to open her hand,” Chat said, gripping the staff tightly.  It was just like the first mission he and his Lady did together. “Carapace, I need you to keep the large fox distracted.  I’m going straight for Volpina.” The turtle nodded before launching himself onto the back of the fox.

“Giddy up, you giant pokemon!” the boy laughed and the fox barked, trying to buck him off.

Chat Noir sprinted straight at Volpina. His staff swung down, making contact with the akuma’s flute.  She laughed. “Oh did you think that would work?” she sneered.

“No. That was just to keep you occupied,” he grinned, twisting his leg around hers to keep her in place before swiping at her with his other hand. Volpina gasped and reached up to block the hand. His fingers wrapped around her wrist.  With a quick move, he had her on her back, pinning her down with his legs. He dropped his staff, forcing her fingers open and grabbing the earring. Volpina screamed in anger and threw him off. “QUEEN BEE!” He pulled his arm back and threw the earring right as she tackled him.

Queen Bee grabbed the earring and flew down to where Marinette waited. Rena Rouge joined soon after Ladybug transformed. “You’re not fighting.”  Her voice was stern.

“Quit joking. We have to go and defeat Volpina.”  Ladybug walked toward the door but Queen Bee stepped in front of her.  “Move, Chloe.”

“Marinette, I’m not joking. You were badly hurt in the fight. You can barely stand up straight without swaying. Your head injury is still an issue. Just stay on the sidelines until we need your Lucky Charm.”

“That’s not….” Suddenly a bug flew in front of her face, making her trail off.  She watched it for a moment before looking back at Rena Rouge. “I….” What had they been talking about?

“Exactly my point. I’ll signal you when we need you, okay?” Alya gave her a hug before flying off again. 

The fight continued, the heroes no longer trying to be careful since they had already retrieved the miraculous. They all fought Volpina with ferocity, eventually holding her down. Rena called out to Ladybug who swung up onto the roof. She stumbled, Carapace reaching out and steadying her as Chat looked worried. The object was broken and the butterfly caught in the yo-yo. A pure white akuma fluttered out and Ladybug activated the Miraculous Cure. 

A wave of ladybugs swarmed the city, fixing buildings and healing people. They surrounded the spotted hero and she let out a sigh of relief as the pain disappeared. Ladybug glanced at her partner, too ashamed to even meet his gaze. She retreated with the others, collected the miraculous and as soon as they were returned to Master Fu, she went home and shut herself in her room.

For the next week, she feigned an illness. Her parents knew something was bothering their daughter but didn’t push the subject. She would tell them if and when she was ready.  

Monday came around and the girl slowly made her way into the school building. She had barely taken one step into the classroom and the room went completely silent. Her gaze moved from the floor to take in all of their faces, waiting for the barrage of criticism and insults. Instead, Adrien stood up and began to clap. Alya and Nino quickly followed suit and soon the entire class, minus Chloe was cheering for her. Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes and Alya ran down to hug her.  

“None of you are disappointed?” Marinette asked when the applause faded.

“Disappointed?! Girl, why would we ever be disappointed? You’re our hero both in and out of the suit. No one has said anything. We never will. Your secret is safe with all of us. We are all so proud of you.” Alya hugged her again before walking her toward her seat. The smile didn’t leave Marinette’s face for the rest of the day. She couldn’t believe she ever doubted her friends, but tonight, that would be the hardest confrontation ever.

Ladybug waited on the roof of Notre Dame for Chat Noir as she always did before a patrol. She paced nervously across the stone, trying to think of the words to use when explaining herself. “Penny for your thoughts, milady?” The familiar smooth tone made her turn.

“Chat….”

“I was getting worried when you didn’t show up all week. Are you feeling better?” he asked, slowly striding forward.

“Chat I need to talk to you. It’s about…about last week when we fought Volpina again. It’s about why I didn’t show up,” she sighed.

“Because you lost an earring,” he stated. “That was kind of hard to miss.”

“It’s not just that…. When I lost the earring, my identity—it was revealed to my entire school class. I didn’t mean for it to happen but they all know and—well I wanted to tell you too.  Well, actually, I wanted to tell you first when I was ready but then this happened and I’ve been so overwhelmed with thinking about what everyone was going to think and I was so embarrassed to show my face in front of you because of how badly I messed up and—” She was cut off as Chat grabbed her hand, a finger slipping under her chin and lifting it to meet his gaze.

“You’re rambling, milady.”

“Right, right….” She took a deep breath and stepped back. “Tikki, spots off.” In a flash of pink, Marinette now stood in front of him. “Hi. My name is Marinette, though you already know that from the few times that you’ve visited me. I’m sorry. I knew I wasn’t meant to be a hero….”

“I know exactly who you are,” he said, closing the distance between them again. “You are Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the budding fashion designer. You are an amazing video game player, a wonderful friend, class representative, and a little clumsy at times. You are the best hero this city could ever ask for. No one would have been able to do what you have done. And I love you.”

“Wait how do you know so much about me?” she frowned before her eyes went wide.  “Wait! You what?!”

“Plagg, claws in.” This time there was a flash of green light and Marinette’s jaw dropped when she saw the face of Paris standing in front of her.  “I said I love you, milady.” 

“A-Adrien…. It’s you…. I….” She just stared at him before the shock faded and she was hit with a tidal wave of emotion. Tears welled up in her eyes for the second time that day. “How can you say that? I can’t even talk to you at school and I lost my miraculous.”

“But you’re also brave, courageous. You care deeply about everyone around you and you’re stronger than anyone else I’ve ever met.” He took her hands. “I wouldn’t want anyone else as my partner and best friend.”

“Adrien….” She buried her face in his chest and let out a soft soft sob. “I love you too.”

The boy chuckled and pulled her close, using a hand to lift her chin again. He captured her lips so gently, other hand wrapping around her waist.  She felt like she would fly away if he wasn’t holding onto her. Slowly, her arms wrapped around his neck and they both pulled back, a little breathless. “I love you,” she repeated before kissing him once again, this time with more passion.


End file.
